A Gilded Cage Is Still A Cage

I'm a fan of integration. I admit it. I like it when things work seamlessly together.

I've also been a fan of Google. But now I have to sound a gentle (for now) alarm bell.

It started with Gmail. It was new, it was hip and techy. It was the must-have email address for a technophile. But Gmail was just a gateway drug.

Right after Gmail I got into Google Docs. Unlimited storage?^* Who could resist that? Then I wanted to integrate everything. I saved to my Google maps. I planned my life on my Google calendar. Photos went to Picasa, this blog's on Blogger.

Life in the cloud? Sounds great! I edited photos on Picnik, created and hosted sites with Google Sites, aggregated my daily reading with Reader and managed all my communication with Google voice.

I kept hoping Verizon would get a Google's Nexus S, and eagerly awaited the release of Google's Chrome OS netbook.

Whoa. Wait.

This is beginning to sound a lot like Apple, only worse.

While the concept of the walled garden does allow for better integration and usually improves the user experience, I have to wonder about the wisdom of putting all my eggs into Google's basket.

Once Google has all my information tied up in Google docs, Google Health Google Voice, Picasa, etc and I use Chrome with extensions and apps, then use a Chrome OS netbook, haven't I just put myself into the proverbial gilded cage?

With Google's recent moves to control more of the Android source code, and new leadership. I hope Google remains true to its "Don't Be Evil" mantra.

But I'm not going to count on it.


^*Unlimited storage on Google docs is available ONLY if you convert your documents into Google Docs formats.